Greets,

I was thinking about pregnancy for a while now and I was wondering how does it work in the 6th world.

What happens if you get pregnant in the 6th World? What are the options available for Shadowrunners. What are the likelihood of having a different race child then your parent race?

What happens if as an elf you are pregnant by a troll? Does that make your child have a 50/50 chance of being troll? What about the problem of a narrow birth channel for a troll?

Can you get abortions? Do you have to go to a general hospital to be born. How does a child get a SIN?

What about complications in pregnancy?

How is a Shadowrunner who lives hand to mouth be able to support themselves during and after pregnancy?

The BBC had entries from real life "stree docs" in a Sierra Leone "slum clinic." That'd probably describe the experience of a barrens-dweller quite well. A 'runner would have more access, at least because of the better income and contacts, so who knows. It'd probably range from nothing to top of the line, depending on the sacrifices made by the 'runner.

The biological issues of multi-racial post-UGE babies has come up before, but I didn't Search.

Do kids even Goblinize in 2070+ or are they just born as a metatype?

Last I read (I think it's mentioned passingly in the BBB) kids still goblinize (it actually sounded like some of them would come out looking normal, some of them would come out looking like orks and come puberty some of the normal ones would goblinize in the puberty from hell). I've always liked that because I could see these meta families just waiting... hoping little Johnny does "turn" and therefore will have a better chance at living a "normal" life. Or the flipside where families 10 deep of orks wonder why Johnny hasn't changed yet and if he ever will.

Awesome double post!

I always thought that metaparents made whatever they were- most likely self-segregated with a chance of random if mixed and not artificially influenced. UGE and Goblinization being magicial effect, it still works that a child of two humans/elves/dwarves occasionally end up a troll. - as of 3e all PC humanoids are technically homo sapiens anyway.

From what I remember the only kids that change after birth are orks or trolls i forget which, I think its orks, start out looking human and they start to change, Other then that the only change a metahuman would see is instead of an elf or a troll or a dwarf ect. they would end up with a normal human child. Granted if you are on a mana line on the 8th tuesday of the 6th month of the house of aqua team hungerforce as you eat a bean salad under a full moon during a mana surge, you could get a teen age mutant ninja turtle...or a gnome,

Two elves make an elf. A dwarf and an elf can have a dwarf, elf or human child (something in Runner's Companion mentions the meta genes of different types can cancel each other out). Orks normally give birth to "litters", usually between three and eight children at once. Some are born orks, some as humans who goblinize later. If an elf were impregnated by a troll the baby could be an elf, troll or a human. If the elf were to give birth to a troll, theoretically her body could manage it (after all most women wouldn't be able to get pregnant if their bodies couldn't handle the birthing process). If not, there's always a Cesarean, which modern women do if there are complications.

In Shadowrun one can have siblings who are of differing metatypes if one lives in a mixed-meta home.

I assume one can receive an abortion in a hospital where it's legal and that there are back alley clinics and street docs who will handle it if it's illegal. My grandparents and cousins weren't born in hospitals, so I would say no, you don't have to go to a hospital. I'm sure midwifery is thriving in the Barrens. A SIN is like a SSN and is assigned at birth. However if your parents are SINless, you're S.O.L..

The same way single women who live hand-to-mouth today do. Beg, borrow and steal.

My major question is what happens during the nine months of pregnancy. What happens to a Shadowrunner? Which of the team members is the father?

*sigh* I suppose someone had to explain it to you some day...

When a John and his ho love each other very much...



A baby grows inside of you



About the same as are available for normal people. Keep the baby or abort it. Day care, stay-at-home, hire a nanny, etc.



The odds of a human having a child of a different metatype is fairly low, although no numbers have been precisely quoted. I'd assume less than 5%. It's about the same for two metas having a human child. The odds of two metas having a child of a third meta race has been documented, but is suggested as being astronomically low. Assume less than 1%.



The elf may want to consider a c-section.



Approximately 49/49 with a small chance of human or 'other'.



Of course. Now I'm sure they have more options though. At-home surgery, street docs, pills, potions, spells, etc. Given the population pressure and range of technologies, there's probably quite a market for it.



Not generally, but I'm sure it's still common, probably even more common than now. The higher pollution, poorer nutrition and other factors increases the chances of birth problems slightly, plus hospitals have a better advertising budget (that's sort of the problem now, and also why something like 40% of all births are C-sections, but it's believed that less than half of those are medically necessary). I expect the current culture is 'set a date, go to the doctor, do a c-section, enjoy the hospital spa, get back to work' (for those with the means). Poor people are in a tough spot because they're raised thinking you have to go to the hospital, but they can't afford it.



Parents prove citizenship (i.e. that they have a SIN), sign the birth certificate and that's probably about it.



Begging, bumming on others, theft, the same things people do right now. There are very, very many mothers who cannot afford to take time off from whatever they're doing to support a child, so they just wrap the baby up and bring him with them, or drop him off with a relative.

If she can afford to take a break, she should not run the shadows while pregnant. If she can't afford to take a break, then she better ask for milk runs. (no pun intended)

As for legality of abortion. Definitely legal in UCAS and CalFree, Heavily restricted or illegal in CAS. Do not know about NAN attitudes on the subject. Regardless, with drugs like RU486 available (even if only on the black market), legality of traditional abortion is really semantic.

Also in any barrens you probably have clinics that would do it for free especially for orks and trolls (from those with Humanis sympathies).

As to your last question, if she does not know which member of her team is the father, we have a whole raft of additional issues beyond pregnancy. (Although I would imagine that in utero paternity testing is very easy in 2070.)

She does what she can until her pregnancy becomes a liability. As for who the father is, that would be the person she had sex with. Or if you're not asking that in a literal sense whoever steps up to the plate. I could also see the runner being forced to temporarily retire by her teammates until she becomes an asset rather than a liability. Depends on the dynamics. Like permanent bachelor Paulie said on The Sopranos, "Ours is not a business for families."

I'm thinking there are huge scams and superstitions dealing with pregnancy in the 6th world, especially in the Barrens.
Examples:
What to do in insure you have a boy.
What to do to insure you have a human (or metatype of choice).
What to do to help make the child awakened.
How to keep the child from being possessed by spirits before they are born.
What to do/avoid to make sure they are not SURGEd.

That's not including all the genemod stuff that the rich probably do to give Jr. a head start in life.

Then again, maybe not. Don't forget that Slamm-0 is a SECOND GENERATION Shadowrunner. He was born into the business.

One of my NPCs, "Murphy" used to be "Little Murphy" to his father, "Big Murphy", who, in turn, was "Little Murphy" to the current Murphy's Grandfather, "Big Murphy" (At the time.).

They passed down the family street name and Ares Predator, First edition!

Wear a baseball hat when having sex.


Wear Vulcan ears while having sex.


Watch Harry Potter while having sex.


Have sex in a warded room.


Don't have sex in the Ganges.

As a side note I would think in SR people with enough money could have a partial clone carry the baby. I mean you can alread clone other organs. Just clone a womb, rig it up for the nutrients it needs and aritificially inseminate it.


For flavor I wish I'd purchase some of the books from Cybergeneration (based off of Cyberpunk 2020) for flavor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybergeneration

I shied away initially because the super power kids theme seemed kind of annoying. But the other half of the thing, the Edgerunners of 2013 getting old and having kids and all that, would have been worth it alone.

Given that clones don't have much of an aura and aren't capable of operating like normal humans (suggesting serious essence issues) I don't think I'd want one carrying my baby. HOWEVER, I could see having the fetus transplanted to another human working well.

Mom-On-The-Run had a Tubed baby, IIRC.

Hmmmmm I see some reasearch, a run, and maybe some odd house rules out of that. Like maybe Tubed babies start with a lower essence but have an open "slot" as if they had cyberware installed but then removed it.

Dudes, milk runs? there are some shadowruns that can only be accomplished with the participation of a pregnant woman and there are many more that can become much easier if a character is visibly pregnant.

Currently, there researchers are working on ways for same-sex couples to conceive a child together and it is now possible for a child to have three biological parents (four if a surrogate carries). And, of course, the technology already exists for a narcisist to reproduce asexually (supposedly, the Raelians have done it already). In the Sixth World, such procedures are sure to be common(ish).